FROM THE ARCHIVES: COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
Forty Acre Feud negatives | 1:50

The Country Music Museum found negatives that were taken during the filming of the "Forty Acre Feud" that include Bill Anderson, Minnie Pearl and many others.
Larry McCormack / The Tennessean / Juli Thanki

FROM THE ARCHIVES: COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
Lost Flatt and Scruggs show found and restored. | 3:47

What was once was lost is now found. For decades a show by Flatt and Scruggs was deemed lost but was found and restored by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Larry McCormack / The Tennessean / Juli Thanki

FROM THE ARCHIVES: COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
Arkie's Martin D-2 in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum | 1:17

The Martin D-2 was a forefather of the D-28, a guitar played by Hank Williams and Lester Flatt, among others. There were only seven D-2 guitars built. One was owned by “Arkie the Arkansas Woodchopper”
Larry McCormack / The Tennessean / Juli Thanki

FROM THE ARCHIVES: COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
Bob Wills Film shows Texas Playboys performing in 1942 | 1:49

Bob Wills Film – a rare silent film taken in Enid, Oklahoma in 1942 showing Western Swing keystones Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys playing a show in town.
Larry McCormack / The Tennessean / Juli Thanki

FROM THE ARCHIVES: COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
Gid Tanner and his fiddle played with the Skillet Lickers | 2:23

A fiddle used by North Georgia fiddler and entertainer Gid Tanner. He had a string band called the Skillet Lickers that influenced many, including contemporary band Old Crow Medicine Show. The fiddle has a rattlesnake rattle inside.
Larry McCormack / The Tennessean, Juli Thanki

FROM THE ARCHIVES: COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
A posthumous love note from songwriting icon Cindy Walker | 2:19

On April 1, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. Some of the prized pieces in the museum's collection belonged to songwriting icon.
Lacy Atkins / The Tennessean

On April 1, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. To mark the occasion, the institution opened its archives, offering an unparalleled look at country music’s most prized artifacts as well as some of the collection’s hidden treasures.

From 1955 until 1969, "The Flatt and Scruggs Grand Ole Opry Show," sponsored by flour company Martha White, beamed bluegrass heroes Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and their Foggy Mountain Boys into homes across the South.

Each episode featured top-notch music, comedy bits and occasional guest appearances by artists like Maybelle Carter and Hylo Brown. "The number of fantastic performances on this show is staggering," said Shepherd Alligood, moving image librarian and editor at the museum. "The talent of the players is phenomenal, from Scruggs' expert picking on the banjo to (Foggy Mountain Boy) Josh Graves' smooth, technical dobro solos."

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What was once was lost is now found. For decades a show by Flatt and Scruggs was deemed lost but was found and restored by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Larry McCormack / The Tennessean / Juli Thanki

After the television program went off the air, it was believed that no copies of the show had survived. But in 1989, two dozen 30-minute episodes were found on 16 mm film in advertising executive Bill Graham's garage.

The films, which were donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, were (and still are) suffering from a malodorous affliction known as vinegar syndrome. "That happens when you're not storing the film in the proper conditions," said Alligood. "Over time, it just eats away at the film. It will actually shrink the film ... then it becomes really brittle and starts to curl in on itself."

A film-preservation company near Washington, D.C., called Colorlab managed to pull images off the original film as well as preserve the audio source, which was on another 16 mm film.

Screen shot(Photo: Screen shot)

The Flatt and Scruggs shows are have been commercially released on DVDs created from these restored films. Watching them, it becomes obvious that it would have been a tremendous loss if the films were unable to be saved. There are few remaining members of bluegrass music's first generation; Foggy Mountain Boy Curly Seckler, who appears on the show, is one of them.

But thanks to a number of dedicated preservationists, audiences will be able to see the fiery picking and down-home humor of some of bluegrass music's most important and influential artists.

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Flatt and Scruggs film – First generation bluegrassers Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs did a show sponsored by Martha White flour company. The episodes were thought lost for decades until they were found, extremely damaged (the 16 millimeter film was suffering from a gross-smelling phenomenon called ‘vinegar syndrome’ that slowly destroys the film), in a garage. The HOF restored the film, giving bluegrass fans a look at the genre’s keystones in their prime.
items from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum archives and displays.
Tuesday March 14, 2017, in Nashville, TN
(Photo: Larry McCormack / The Tennessean)